My name is Benjamin Williams and I'm a freshmen at Helena High School in Helena, Montana. I am a 4.0 student, and I am in the DECA marketing club. In the fall I run cross country and in the spring I play tennis.

This summer I'm going on a month-long study abroad in Madrid, Spain to learn about and immerse myself in the Spanish culture and language. I want to expand my knowledge of Spanish and learn how to speak it fluently. This is the first language that I am learning apart from my primary language; English.

Spanish is the second ranking most spoken language in the world, with almost 500 million speakers. The United States alone has more than 40 million native speakers of Spanish, and by 2050 it is set to become the largest Spanish speaking country in the world (13 Cool and Interesting Facts About the Spanish Language).

The money that you're donating will be used to pay the tuition and travel expenses for this trip, and the funds are due by April 15th. When I return from my trip I will tutor Spanish speaking elementary children at the elementary school next to my high school.

After the study abroad in Madrid, I will take a train to Valladolid. I will spend 7-10 days visiting my friends and seeing another part of Spain.

I will be very grateful for any amount that you can donate, as any amount will help. This will be my first time traveling to Europe and I'm extremely excited to experience the new culture and what the people are like. It is one of my life goals to at least become bilingual, and any amount that you donate will help me reach this goal. Click here to visit the website of the program that I am going with. Any amount of money that you can spare will help, thank you.